Flooring for blast-furnaces



M. W; ILES,

(No Model.)

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FLOORING FOR BLAST-FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,188, dated July 11,1893.

Application filed February 25, 1892. Serial No. 422,768. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MALVERN W. ILES, of Denver, Arapahoe county, Stateof Colorado, have invented a certain new and useful Flooring forBlast-Furnaces, of which the following is a true and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ofthis specification. t

My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of the ironflooring plates usedat the top of blast furnaces and has for its objectto provide a ooring at once safer and more durable than thosenowgenerally used. I accomplish this result by so constructing the platesthat the inner ones, or those nearest the charging hole, will be, to acertain extent, supported by the outer plates, and also by reinforcingthe cast iron liooring plates by Wrought-iron strengthening stripssecured to them by aline of rivets or bolts so that even if the platebreaks it will still be held together and prevented from falling orpermitting a man standing upon it to fall into the furnace.

The nature of my improvements will be best understood as described inconnection With the drawings in which they are illustrated, and inWhich- Figure l is an elevation of the blast furnace, the flooring beingshown in section on the line 3-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view of theflooring; and Fig. 3 a section on the line 1-2 of Fig. 2.

A indicates the blast furnace which may be of any usual construction.

B is the level of the top of the furnace at which the material ischarged into it; and C the charging hole formed in the flooring platesat the center of the shaft.

As shown in the drawings I employ eight floor plates-six beingend-plates of which, however, only four extend over the shaft of thefurnace, and two, side-plates- Of the end plates, those marked D and Dare shown as plain fiat cast iron plates which I may mention are usuallymade of about an inch thickness. D2 and D5 extend partly over the endsof the shaft while the plates D-1 and D5 extend across the shaft asshown; the side plates E and E' extend from the sides of the shafttoward its center. Those plates which extend over the shaft are providedwith reinforcing strips CZ made of wrought iron or steel and securedalong the exposed edge of the plate to which they are applied; they arefastened to the plate by a row of rivets d2 as shown. On one or bothedges of the end plates I form projecting lugs d extending out from thebottom `or lower side of the plate and adapted to lie beneath and incontact with the abutting edge of another end plate or to pass under andsupport the abutting ends of the side platesE andE as shown. By thusconstructing .and arranging the floor plates it will be seen that theouter edges of the plates D4 and D5 are supported by the lugs on theinner edges of the plates D2 and D3; which edges can be also supportedin the same way by lugs d extending out from the lower face of theplates D4 and D5. Similar lugs extending out from the inner edge of theplates D4 and D5 pass beneath the abutting edges of the plates E and Esothat the inner edges of these platesare supported directly upon theside plates.

It is obvious of course that a plate supported as above indicatedcannotsag and also that even in case of a plate breaking it will be sosupported as to at least greatly diminish the risk of its falling intothe furnace or precipitating a man or material standing upon it into thefurnace. But the danger from breaking plates may be said to be entirelyovercome by the'use of the Wrought iron strips riveted to the lowerfaces of the platesthese strips acting to hold broken sections of theplates together and being strong enough in themselves to support anyweight which is likely to be cast upon them.

l have referred to the fastening devices d2 as rivets, which are by farthe best fasteners, but it will be understood that bolts or anyequivalent fastening device can be used for this purpose.

I am aware that it is not new to strengthen iron castings by casting themetal around bars of wrought iron or by shrinking wrought iron bandsaround castings of suitable shape, but neither of these plans is adaptedfor use with furnace floor plates and I believe that such plates havenever heretofore been constructed of Wrought and cast iron as myconstruction enables them to be. l,

Having now described my invention, what IOC I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination with a furnace having a charging opening as C, ofcast iron flooring plates extending over the furnace and around theopening C and having a reinforcing strip of wrought iron or steelsecured thereto by means of rivets Z2 all substantially as described andso that the parts of the piate if broken may be held together by thesteel or Wrought iron strips.

2. As a new article of manufacture cast iron floor plates for blastfurnaces having outwardly-extending lugs d on a lower edge or edgesadapted to extend beneath an abutting MALVERN W. ILES. Witnesses:

F. D. FRENCH, JOHN S. WILLIAMS.

